Welcome, one and all, to my special series of retrospective posts on the sci-fi / fantasy epic Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon. In the following two posts, I’m going to give you everything you need to know in order to enjoy this wonderfully complex series, including background information, character bios, detailed summaries and impressions for every episode, and a giant final impressions section that explains exactly why I felt compelled to write so much about this series. In the end, these two posts are going to cover the entire season – all 13 episodes – of one of the most vibrant and detailed worlds that has graced our screens in years.

In this first post I’ll be talking about the basic premise, the world, the factions, the characters, and many of the other fiddly little details that might trip you up. Then, just to get the party started in earnest, I’m going to go ahead and give you summaries and impressions for the first six episodes. If you have any questions, whether you haven’t watched this series yet or suspect you might have missed something on your first time through, this post may very well contain the answer.

With this amazing spring season almost entirely in the rear-view mirror and summer’s crop of shows rapidly approaching, there’s no better time for the second installment of the Random Curiosity Podcast than now.

What started as a simple mediocre amateur movie project is slowly turning into a path of self-discovery — and I have no problems with that. What I do want to point out before we dive into this episode is that for anyone who’s on the fence about Hyouka should really tune in for this current arc!